School Closures Stirs Fears, Emotions, and Harsh Words: CTU Plans Rally

citizen |

“Rahm Emanuel has become the ‘murder mayor.’ He is murdering public services. Murdering our ability to maintain public sector jobs and now he has set his sights on our public schools,” said Karen Lewis, Chicago Teachers Union President during an afternoon press conference last Thursday. AP Photo.
“Rahm Emanuel has become the ‘murder mayor.’ He is murdering public services. Murdering our ability to maintain public sector jobs and now he has set his sights on our public schools,” said Karen Lewis, Chicago Teachers Union President during an afternoon press conference last Thursday. AP Photo.

Parents, community members and the president of the Chicago Teacher's Union (CTU), Karen Lewis, are expressing outrage over Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announcement that 54 schools and 61 school buildings are recommended for closure.

The outspoken Lewis, wasted little time letting CPS and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel know exactly how she feels about it.

"Our students cannot wait for us to put off these difficult decisions any longer. Each child in every neighborhood in Chicago deserves a high quality education," said Mayor Emanuel.

The Mayor continued by saying, "This problem is not unique to Chicago and like school systems where enrollment has dropped, we must make tough choices. Consolidating schools is the best way to make sure every student is in a safe and better performing school and that all of our students get the resources they need to learn and succeed."

CPS's school consolidation plans calls for 55 "Welcoming Schools" that will receive students from ones slated for closure; six schools were selected for turnaround intervention; and 11 schools will serve as co-located schools, where certain schools share one physical location.

"This city cannot destroy that many schools at one time; and, we contend that no school should be closed in the city of Chicago," Lewis said. "These actions will not only put our students' safety and academics careers at risk but also further destabilize our neighborhoods."

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Barbara Byrd-Bennett and CPS Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, Tom Tyrell, via teleconference last Thursday, provided the Chicago Citizen Newspaper with details about the school consolidation plan.

"Our single goal is to get to a point where every child gets what they deserve and that is a high quality education," Byrd-Bennett said. "Students have been cheated on the kind of education they need."

CPS investments into the "Welcoming Schools" include nearly 70 additional libraries and computer, engineering, media and science labs that are currently not offered by the 54 underutilized schools and programs proposed for closure. Air conditioning, which is only available at 20 of the schools, will be in every classroom at each of the 55 higher-performing welcoming schools.

In total, 61 elementary school facilities will be removed, which represents approximately 10 percent of all elementary school facilities in CPS.

The $155 million in capital improvement funds and $78 million in operating funds that's needed for the closure transition will come from directing resources away from maintaining the more than 300 underutilized facilities, Tyrell explained.

"We're facing a significant budget deficit," Tyrell said of the projected $1 billion gap CPS said it's scrambling to fill. Consolidation will not solve the budget problem but it is the right thing to do."

In terms of class size, Byrd-Bennett said on a local radio talk show, "There is a district policy on class sizes that will be based on the number of children in a grade and 30 is the base number we'll use. We don't want class sizes of 40 or 50 students and will try to keep class sizes as small as possible."

Currently, CPS operates over 511,000 seats for a student population of 403,000 with nearly 330 schools deemed as underutilized and nearly 140 of the schools, according to CPS are more than half empty.

Parents and community members say CPS closures targets schools primarily on the west and south sides, a move they say will devastate already troubled African American neighborhoods and will put children from these areas in harm's way, as they venture into new territory due to closures.

Safety issues are addressed, according to CPS officials, via its Student Safety Transition Plan, devised from feedback collected from over 20,000 community members. The plan includes adding parents and community volunteers along key routes where students travel to and from school and calls for partnering with additional community- and faith-based organizations. It also allows for extra security officers and training for security personnel with a focus on student integration.

According to a press release on the Chicago Teacher's Union website, CReATE, a network of more than 100 professors from Chicago-area universities, urged the Chicago Board of Education on Thursday to reject CPS's school closure proposal. The group recently performed an in-depth study on school closures.

"We find that the history of previous school closures and school actions reveal that closures will negatively impact academic performance and create hardship for communities," said David Stovall, professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and contributor to the CReATE report.

Calling the school-closure issue "the most critical education policy decision today" for Chicago and its future, CReATE researchers claim to have found evidence that:

*School closures historically have had a negative impact on a student's academic performance.

*94% of students from closed CPS schools did not go on to "academically strong" new schools.

*Students who transitioned to new schools experienced lower test scores and are at an increased risk of dropping out.

*Overcrowding is an issue in receiving schools.

More than 1,100 teachers work in underutilized schools that CPS is proposing to close and consolidate. Per a joint agreement between CPS and the CTU last fall, many teachers will follow students to their new welcoming school. Teachers must be tenured and deemed high-quality, and there must also be a position in their field available in the new welcoming school.

CPS maintains that closings will yield $560 million in savings in capital funds over the next decade and $43 million annually in operating costs, for a total of $430,000,000 million over 10 years while CTU however maintains the closings will cost, not save CPS nearly $1 billion.

A public hearing is expected to take place before the list is approved by The Chicago Board of Education.

A CTU rally is planned for March 27.

On Thursday, Chicago Public School officials announced that they will be closing 54 school programs and 61 school buildings.

Here is the list of school programs that are being closed:

*Altgeld Elementary School, 1340 W. 71st. St., will be close into Wentworth Elementary School, 6950 S. Sangamon St.

*Armstrong Elementary Math and Science School, 5345 W Congress Pkwy, will be closed into Leland Elementary, 5221 W. Congress Ave.

*Attucks Elementary School, 5055 S State St., will be phased out over two years and close into Beethoven Elementary School, 25 W 47th St.

*Banneker Elementary School, 6656 S. Normal Ave., will close into Benjamin Mays Elementary School, 838 W. Marquette Rd.

*Bethune Elementary School, 3030 W. Arthington St., will close into Gregory Math and Science Academy, 3715 W Polk St.

*Bontemps Elementary School, 1241 W 58th St. will close into Nicholson Elementary School, 6006 S. Peoria St.

*Buckingham Special Education Center, 9207 S. Philips, will close into Montefiore Special Elementary School, 1310 S. Ashland Ave.

*Calhoun North Elementary School, 2833 W Adams St., will close into Cather, 2908 W. Washington Blvd.

*Canter Middle School, 4959 S. Blackstone Ave., will close into Hart and Ray Elementary School, 5631 S Kimbark Ave. Consult CPS for the Welcoming School.

*Delano Elementary School, 3937 W Wilcox St., will be close into Melody, 412 S. Keeler Ave.

*Dumas Technology Academy, 6650 S Ellis Ave, will close into Wadsworth Elementary School, 6434 S University Ave.

*Roque De Duprey Elementary School, 2620 W. Hirsch St., will close into DeDiego, 1313 North Claremont Ave.

*Emmet Elementary School, 5500 W. Madison St, will close into Ellington, DePriest Elementary Schools. Consult CPS for the Welcoming School.

*Ericson Elementary Scholastic Academy, 3600 W 5th Ave. will close into Sumner Math and Science Academy, 4320 W. 5th Ave.

*Fermi Elementary School, 1415 E 70th St., will close into South Shore Fine Arts Academy, 1415 E. 70th St.

*Garfield Park Prep Academy Elementary School, 3250 W. Monroe St., will close into Faraday Elementary School, 3250 W. Monroe St.

*Garvey M. Elementary School, 10309 S Morgan St., will close into Mount Vernon, Elementary School, 10540 S. Morgan St.

*Goldblatt Elementary School, 4257 W Adams St., will close into Hefferan, 4409 W Wilcox St.

*Goodlow Elementary Magnet School, 2040 W. 62nd St., will be close into Earle Elementary School, 6121 S. Hermitage Ave.

*Henson Elementary School, 1326 S Avers Ave., will close into Hughes Elementary School, 4247 W 15th St.

*Herbert Elementary School, 2131 W Monroe St. will close into Dett Elementary, 2306 W Maypole Ave.

*Mahalia Jackson Elementary School, 917 W. 88th St., will close into Fort Dearborn Elementary School, 9025 S. Throop Ave.

*Key Elementary School, 517 N. Parkside St. will close into Ellington Elementary School, 243 N. Parkside St.

*King Elementary School, 740 S Campbell Ave, will be close into Jensen Elementary School, 300 W Harrison St.

*Kohn Elementary School, 10414 S State St., will close into Cullen, Lavizzo, L. Hughes Elementary Schools. Consult CPS for the Welcoming School.

*Lafayette Elementary School, 2714 W Augusta Blvd., will close into Chopin Elementary School, 2450 W Rice St.

*Lawrence Elementary School, 9928 S Crandon Ave., will close into Burnham Math and Science Academy, 1903 E. 96th St.

*Manierre Elementary School, 1420 N Hudson Ave. will close into Jenner Elementary Academy of Arts School, 1119 N Cleveland Ave.

*Marconi Elementary Community Academy, 230 N Kolmar Ave. will close into Tilton Elementary School, 223 N Keeler Ave.

*May Elementary Community Academy, 512 S. Lavergne Ave., will close into Leland Elementary School, 5221 W Congress Pkwy.

*Mayo Elementary School, 249 E. 37th St. will close into Wells Preparatory Elementary, 244 E Pershing Rd.

*Morgan Elementary School, 8407 S Kerfoot Ave. will close into Ryder Elementary School, 8716 S. Wallace St.,

*Near North Elementary School, 739 N Ada St. will close into Montefiore Special Elementary School, 1310 S. Ashland Ave.

*Overton Elementary School, 229 E. 49th St. will close into Mollison Elementary School, 4415 S Dr. Martin L King Dr.

*Owen Elementary Community Academy, 8247 S Christiana Ave. will close into Gompers Fine Arts, 12302 South State St.

*Paderewski Elementary Learning Academy, 2221 South Lawndale Ave., will close into Cardenas and Castellanos. Consult CPS for the Welcoming School.

*Parkman Elementary School, 245 W 51st St., will close into Sherwood Elementary School, 245 W. 57th St

*Peabody Elementary School, 1444 W. Augusta Blvd., will close into Otis Elementary School, 525 N Armour St.

*Pershing West Elementary Magnet School, 3200 S. Calumet Ave. will close into Pershing East Elementary School, 3113 S Rhodes Ave.

*Pope Elementary School, 1852 South Albany Ave., will close into Johnson Elementary School, 1420 S Albany Ave.

*Ross Elementary School, 6059 S Wabash Ave., will close into Dulles Elementary School, 6311 S Calumet Ave.

*Ryerson Elementary School, 646 N Lawndale Ave., will close into Ward Elementary School, 2701 S Shields Ave.

*Sexton Elementary School, 6020 S. Langley Ave., will close into Fiske Elementary School, 6145 S Ingleside Ave.

*Songhai Elementary Learning Institute, 11725 S Perry Ave. will close into Curtis Elementary School, 32 E. 115th St.

*Stewart Elementary School, 4525 N Kenmore Ave. will close into Brennemann Elementary School, 4251 N Clarendon Ave.

*Stockton Elementary School, 4425 N Beacon St., will close into Courtenay Elementary Language Arts Center, 1726 W Berteau Ave.

*Trumbull Elementary School, 5200 N Ashland Ave. will close into Chappell, McPherson, McCutcheon, Elementary Schools. Consult CPS for the Welcoming School.

*Von Humboldt Elementary School, 2620 W Hirsch St., will close into De Diego Elementary School, 1313 N Claremont Ave.

*West Pullman Elementary School, 11941 S. Parnell Ave. will close into Haley Elementary School, 11411 S Eggleston Ave.

*Williams Middle Prep Academy, 2710 S. Dearborn St., will close into Drake Elementary School, 2722 S. King Dr.

*Williams Multiplex Elementary School, 2710 S. Dearborn St. will close into Drake, 2722 S. King Dr.

*Woods Elementary Math & Science Academy, 6206 S. Racine Ave., will close into Bass Elementary School, 1140 W. 66th St.

*Yale Elementary School, 7025 S. Princeton Ave., will close into Harvard Elementary School, 7525 S Harvard Ave.

By Deborah Bayliss

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.